Reply #23: They signed him to do the Olympics but now they've pulled him

[Shopaholic]

Originally, NBC hired him to do the Olympics but last week they announced that he would not be going to Athens to cover the games for the NBC Cable networks but would instead stay with MSNBC & Countdown since it's been showing an upturn (slight) in the ratings and to do the Olympics, he'd have to be gone from Countdown for an entire month. Countdown is very much Keith's baby. He's the show's Managing Editor and writes the vast majority of the show but sadly, he's getting killed by O'Lielly in the ratings. Someone here posted once before that Keith had personally replied to an e-mail that they'd sent praising him & the show and he said that if the show got more viewer response that the network would give him even greater leeway in the direction and content of his newscasts (the addresses, by the way are [email protected] and [email protected]). They did have him anchoring four hours in prime on Saturday night (7 to 11) and he did an amazing job--doing four hours live, unscripted, ain't easy, but he sure made it look that way, although he did kiss a little bit too much Reagan butt for my liking. However, he did bring up the Iran-Contra mess and the Air Traffic Controller's Strike/union busting more than once, so he earned props from me for that. I say if you like the show, let the network know how you feel. The ratings are moving up and I think they'll hang on to him for the foreseeable future. I hear that Rick Kaplan, the new President of MSNBC is pretty high on Keith & Countdown.